Superintendent David Brewer has what he calls a “final plan” for underachieving schools. A.J. Duffy, head of the teachers’ union, says Brewer’s “declaring war.” We’ll hear from both leaders about the increasingly brutal politics of education reform. On Reporter’s Notebook, this weekend’s Walk for the Homeless.

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Superintendent David Brewer has what he calls a “final plan” for underachieving schools. A.J. Duffy, head of the teachers’ union, says Brewer’s “declaring war.” We’ll hear from both leaders about the increasingly brutal politics of education reform. On Reporter’s Notebook, this weekend’s Walk for the Homeless.

After heavy criticism, Superintendent David Brewer has modified his plan for reforming LA's lowest performing schools. He's reduced the number of campuses he will focus on and scrapped the idea of giving them separate governance. But he's retained proposals for the reassignment of teachers, merit pay and scripted teaching. The United Teachers of Los Angeles is so opposed to those ideas that union head A.J. Duffy told the Daily News, Brewer's "declaring war."

In a Gallup Poll commissioned in part by the United Way, half the people in Los Angeles said they have taken in friends or relatives who otherwise would have been homeless. To build public support for strategies to get people off the streets, the group will sponsor a 5K called HomeWalk this coming Saturday. Three thousand people have already signed up.